Thin film heads are used for reading or writing data onto a recording layer of a data storage disk. Typically, the head “flies” above the surface of the disk at a very low “altitude”. The height of the air gap between the head and the disk is usually measured in fractions of a micron. The low height of the air gap causes an air bearing to be formed.
For a disk that stores data using magnetic effects, the head usually includes a radio frequency coil for transmitting and receiving a magnetic field to write and read in the recording layer. For disks that store data using optical effects, the head may include an objective lens to focus a light beam at the recording layer.
Along with the evolution of the disk industry, the surface cleanliness of read-write heads has become one of the most critical concerns. With low-flying heads, dust in the environment is a serious problem. Dust particles can cause catastrophic “head crashes” destroying the head and disk. Also, significant amounts of dust can accumulate on the head to interfere with the magnetic or optical effects. Contaminants may cause a disk driver to malfunction or even fail to spin up.
Classical wash, rinse and dry technology using an aqueous chemical substance and ultrasonic agitation can not provide adequate cleaning efficiency for a head's air bearing surface. More effective contamination removal methods to ensure that components and drives always remain as clean as possible are needed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,238 issued to Neville K. Lee et al. on Nov. 14, 1995, disclosed a cleaning apparatus for cleaning read/write heads used for accessing data stored on a recording disk of a disk drive. The cleaning apparatus had a mounting base positioned adjacent to the disk. The base includes a ratchet mechanism for rotating a cleaning pad mounted thereon. The rotary or linear actuator arm used to position the read/write head activates the ratchet mechanism. The ratchet mechanism rotates the cleaning pad while the actuator unloads the read/write head from the disk. A loading ramp is used to vertically position the write head relative to a cleaning surface of the cleaning pad. This conventional cleaning apparatus is more complicated in structure, lower in efficiency, and is used only after assembly of a disk drive, making it unsuitable for use in the mass production of the heads.